His Reasons
by xxredemption-love-and-liesxx
Summary: [spoilers for Naruto Gaiden] - "You left her! What makes this any different?" [oneshot] [SSS]


**His Reasons**  
xxredemption-love-and-liesxx

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oneshot  
[t]

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She had felt his chakra before she saw him; a potent and dangerous chakra, the complete _opposite _of the seventh hokage's. His hair fell over one eye, and he wore a long cloak in which covered a majority of his form. The eye he was allowing her to see was the same deep onyx; the same type that could smother whomever gazed into the inky orbs. Her heartbeat rose as she looked him over, wanting to cry _again_. Why was he here? _Why_? She was automatically on guard; her mother passed out in the building behind. If he was here to see her, he had no right; no _fucking _right.

"What the hell are _you _doing here?" the dark-haired girl snarled, practically baring her teeth at her bastard of a father. "How dare you come back here?!"

The elder Uchiha looked his daughter over a few times before returning to her feral gaze. "Sarada?" ignoring her question, and taking a step towards her. "You look… much older now."

"Yeah," Sarada nodded, agreeing with him. "I'd look older to someone who only saw me as a _baby_."

He looked taken aback, but shook it off. "Where's your mother?"

Arms crossed over her chest as she gave him a malicious glare. She looked ready to walk over to him and belt him, but she refrained from doing so. A cold and bitter atmosphere surrounded the daughter and her father. A large distance was between them; something that could not be crossed with one step. Her fingers dug into her skin as her father looked around, as if trying to find the rose-haired Uchiha matriarch.

_Matriarch, huh_? The girl thought to herself bitterly, _that's if Okaa-san is actually…_ She stopped thinking those thoughts and dropped her arms, cradling a hand above her heart. _Okaa-san is __**my **__mother, no matter what this bastard says_.

"Nowhere," Sarada snarled, unable to keep her tone soft or _normal_. "that you need to be, _Otou-san_," the little girl spat, her eyes narrowing into slits. "Just leave. It's not like we need you here."

The Uchiha patriarch closed his eyes. "I get that you don't want me here, Sarada," he opened them once more, watching her with an inquisitive look. "Fuck, I can't even blame you for it…" he paused, watching her with blank eyes; he was not allowing her to _see _anything. "But your mother is someone important to me, and I've heard that she has been sick lately."

"It doesn't matter to you… at all," Sarada ran a hand through her hair. "You don't care… she has been sick plenty of times, including when she was pregnant with _me_. You left her! What makes _this _any different?"

Hurt crossed her father's stoic face, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. "Tch. My wife is still ill—"

A bitter laugh escaped the young girl's throat. "Oh, your _wife_!? I still don't believe that! Hell, I don't even believe that she's _my _mother!" Sarada could not stop the words escaping her… all she hoped was that her mother—she still felt that Sakura _was _her mother, even if it was not in blood—would not hear the words she was speaking. "Just leave us alone… we don't _need _you."

The elder Uchiha listened to her, dropping his head a little. "Listen—"

"I don't have any want to listen to some _bullshit_ that you make up. I might not know you… or hell, have even _talked _to you, but you have no right—no right at all to talk to me, or even _try _to find Okaa-san; no right," the little girl snapped, hands now fisting by her sides. "Why have you _all of a sudden_ decided to return, huh? Okaa-san isn't important enough—"

"Shut up," the Uchiha interjected, his eyes narrowing.

"I won't!" Sarada shouted right back. "Okaa-san isn't important enough for **_you_**of all people to **_return_**!"

The two Uchiha watched one-another before Sasuke dropped his head. "Fine… I'll leave."

Sarada allowed nothing to be said, and watched as her father vanished from hindsight.

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Sarada sighed, closing the door behind her and making sure to lock it. Her mother and her were just resting in one of the few still intact buildings in the Uchiha compound. Her eyes looked at the windows, and she walked over, making sure they were closed and locked properly. The little girl glanced over at her resting mother before she walked over and sighed heavily. The things she had said… She was sure her mother would have broken down over them. Hell, at the random appearance of her father, it would have been the same.

_I met him… I met my…_ Sarada closed her eyes, feeling the stinging sensation of tears. _Why? Why did he have to come now…?_

The little girl's tears burst over once more, and she just cried openly, leaning against the bed her mother was resting upon. Her hands were buried into her hands, and she just felt so much pain in her heart. _So much_. What kind of father abandons a child—and their mother—like this? Can Sarada even _consider _him a father? She may be Uchiha by blood, but she cannot—under any circumstances—accept something like this. Ever.

Sakura let out a low moan and turned onto her side, her hand brushing against her belly before staying there. Sarada watched in slight amusement, and soon rubbed her tears away. She let out a heavy breath, vowing to become stronger to protect her mother… that would be her nindo.

And if protecting her mother meant the same for her father, then… so be it.

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He could not help it; he could not help his chakra from practically _burning _him. Anger and regret flowed through him like a toxin. He needed to rid himself of his chakra, that was an easy thing to see. The man coughed and covered his face with a hand, heavy breaths escaping his lungs like a pump. May as well be having an anxiety attack or a panic attack. His fingers clutched against the trees next to him, digging into the bark, putting cuts in both his real and prosthetic hand. Blood oozed from his right hand, while his left only had the pain and indentations being caused before splinters were forced away from his skin.

His daughter; his own daughter hated him! But he could not even _blame _her for such a thing! _Twelve _years he had been away; twelve years he had missed of her life. The only time he saw her was on his rare days where he allowed himself to return to Sakura, allowing their vows to practically be renewed. He knew that Sakura knew how much he cared. How much he would do for them, even if it meant his own daughter _hating _him. Someone was after her, and he was sure that he had a fair idea of _who _it was.

But this man, this vile, vile snake had eluded Sasuke so many times. So many times. Even though he was able to sense chakra from far off, he has yet to catch up to his old master.

… He wanted to return home. Back to Sakura. Back to… Sarada.

Sakura's illness had reached him; she had been fainting a lot for the last few weeks. She was _fainting _and he could not be around to catch her when she did! It absolutely revolted him. But he could not lose them, even if it meant that… in a way, he _emotionally _lost the both of them. On his rare nights he would allow himself to be with Sakura in every way possible, she would tell him of how much better Sarada is getting at being a shinobi. However, like Sasuke, Sarada did not understand why shinobi existed to become with.

Sasuke wished he could be the one to explain, and Sakura has decided to allow Sarada to find out on her own. The elder Uchiha knows that, from Sakura, she did not wish to enrol in the academy.

But the council forced her.

After all, Sarada was an asset to the Hidden Leaf; one out of two who have the sharingan or being able to possess it, himself included.

Sasuke wondered why Sakura was in one of the old homes in the Uchiha compound… it had to be hard to stay there. Sasuke did not like her being there. She was away from the village, as was Sarada. A call for help to reach the Hidden Leaf would take a while, that much Sasuke knew.

The Uchiha pulled away from the tree, lifting his right hand to inspect the blood that had freely flowed down his wrist and into his cloak. He already had enough blood on his hands as it was. … As it was, Sasuke did not want for his daughter to know of who he was; that was sure to get her even more angrier.

But one thing that she had said stuck with him… **"Oh, your ****_wife_****!? I still don't believe that! Hell, I don't even believe that she's ****_my _****mother!"**

Those words were something that just… absolutely made him hurt. Sakura _was _his wife, and while he was not a good husband; nowhere near; he made it clear that he and Sakura were married and together, even if their meeting was a rare occurrence. And as to Sakura not being Sarada's mother… it was something that made Sasuke's heart hurt. Sakura was the _only _woman who he had even been with in that sense, and therefore, Sakura was the only possibility of being Sarada's mother...

But of course, Sasuke had a sinking feeling that the young girl was, bit by bit, going to discover his past.

Two things would happen.

Either she would accept it, or his own daughter would hate him… even more so than she appears to now.

Sasuke rubbed his hand against his cloak, allowing the blood to stain and looked up at the moon; a _crescent _moon. He took one more heavy breath before deciding it was best to continue searching… as that was the only thing he could do for Sakura and Sarada now.

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_fin_

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So, this chapter made my heart hurt, and I'm so angry at Sasuke at the moment that you guys don't understand. I think Sarada and Sasuke may be meeting up next chapter, maybe, but... I have a feeling it's just getting started. The fact that Sasuke left both Sakura and Sarada for twelve years is just... absolutely unacceptable, no matter how I try to make it sound okay in Sasuke's part. But still... I just can't get why Sasuke would leave them both for that period of time.

I'm also worried about Sakura; Sarada says that she faints often, I'm hoping she's not sick. Like really hoping.


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